Introduction The National Health Service (NHS) is the biggest employer in the United Kingdom (UK). Poor mental health is estimated to account for more than 25% of sickness absence in the NHS. Little is known about the management of NHS staff who take sick leave due to common mental health disorders (CMHD).

Aims To establish the current practice of UK Occupational Health (OH) departments in managing staff who go on sick leave with CMHD.

Methods Survey of OH departments providing OH services to NHS trusts and health boards (12 questions). Analysis involved descriptive statistics and content analysis.

Results There were 49 complete responses from 126 OH departments (38.9%). The majority (98%) of the Trusts have a CMHD sickness absence policy in place. For 63.3 .% of the Trusts, the first OH consultation would occur between 8 and 28 days after a staff member going off sick and would be undertaken by someone with an OH qualification (91.8%). Assessment during the first consultation most frequently included exploration of symptoms of CMHD and assessment of medication, while case management and arranging regular timed reviews were least commonly included. 45% of the Trusts reported that they would not contact the staff member’s GP to inform of the outcome of the consultation.

Conclusions We found variation in practice between trusts with respect to timing of first consultation, use of case-management approach and regular timed reviews. The most up-to-date evidence on the effectiveness of intervention is not uniformly being incorporated into current practice.